Backwards / Forwards
Respice, Adspice, Prospice Look behind, look here, look forward - City College Motto
I believe the present is pulsing between the past and the future. I enjoy looking towards both. My work investigates historical data to project visions of a just and sustainable future.
Matthew Jay Morgan
City College of New York Spitzer School of Architecture Masters of Architecture 2018-2021
Contents:
A non-linear timeline tracking each project’s historical “routes”, its future projections, and travel back to now.
School Work
Pneumatic Book Distribution Intrastructural Suspension Dynamic Surface Autonomous Neighborhood Chess Pavilion Ctrl + Alt + Topia
Team Work
J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures Architecture of Migration Hines/Urban Land Institute Student Competition Autonomous City
Work Work
Window Testing at JW Marriott Egress Lighting and Sea Turtle Light Restrictions Plans for Townhouse Renovation
Not Work
Fly-tying Illustrations Paint
SCHOOL Pneumatic Book Distribution
Intrastructural Suspension
Dynamic Surface
New York Public Library System Analysis
Train Station and Multi- Faith Prayer Spaces in Harlem
Translating Conceptual Space into Physical into Digital
Spring 2019 Prof. Brad Horn
Spring 2019 Prof. Brad Horn
Fall 2018 Prof. Julia Chapman
WORK Autonomous Neighborhood
Chess Pavilion
Ctrl + Alt + Topia
Code, Policy, Data, and Urban Systems
Analyzing Movement and Time in Marcus Garvey Park
Cyber Security Center in New York City
Fall 2020 Prof. Shawn Rickenbacker
Fall 2018 Prof. Julia Chapman
Fall 2020 Prof. Martin Stigsgaard
Spaces of Free Knowledge New York Public Library System 6
7
Research began with the New York Public Library system. Ratio analysis of NYC OpenData on library branches revealed fewer books per visitor and higher book turnover in underresourced branches. Additional investigation led New York Public Library’s 42nd Street Beaux-Arts Building. The unused “stack” space and existing pneumatic mail system prompted the intervention.
Mapping libraries and pneumatic route, composite drawing of main branch. The unused “stack” space below the Rose Reading Room, and existing basement storage below Bryant park are converted into a pneumatic book distribution center which provides equal and instant access to knowledge.
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After drawing and spending time in New York’s Public Library building, the majestic quality of the public reading spaces and the technological marvel of the stacked shelves below inspired a cartoon about the former books and their desire to be called upon and read.
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Intrastructural Suspension Manufactured landscapes and transit opportunities
The project is to create a train station at 135th Street along existing Amtrak tracks in Harlem. Research uncovered that the landscape is artiďŹ cial, originally reclaimed from the Hudson River. In addition to serving as a gateway between Upstate and Uptown, the station provides a series of spaces for meditation, prayer and solitude which are juxtaposed against the toxic sublime character of the site and commotion of transit.
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The rhythm of trains arriving and departing, as well as the site’s features, from retaining wall to abandoned billboard, provided the basis for locating spaces designed for reflection.
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A site model was created after the first visit to highlight prominent features. Final site plan reflect existing buildings character, jammed into its infrastructural surroundings.
Section sequence and perspective 13
Dynamic Surface Lost and Found in Translation
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As introduction to human scale and concept development, the process of folding paper provided the space for initial exploration. The folded paper was translated into the computer and the translation resulted in transformation. The process was one of discovery, resulting in a new landscape which was ultimately recreated as a physical object.
Surface studies, water ow and pooling analysis, and ďŹ nal topographic model and drawing 15
Autonomous Neighborhood Codes, Data, Policy, Participants
How:
When:
Why:
What:
A waste processing center sized to handle 100 years of waste for the city’s projected future population of 45,000 residents was provided in the autonomous neighborhood 16
Function Summary
Bureau of Planned Obsolescence
The creation of a Bureau for Planned Obsolescence (BPO), which mandates that producers of waste define the life-cycle of their products and packaging and levies taxes on the amount of materials which are not recyclable.
Applicability and Requirements
AC Function 0.24B
Businesses producing goods in excess of 10,000 pounds net weight per year or $1,000,000 in revenue will be required to report to the BPO. Reporting is conducted mobily through the BPO Application. Virtual scanning is used to register products and packaging dimensions which are uploaded to a stock database and joined with the sales data associated with those products.
Cardboard .08 CF
Styrofoam .60 CF
Manufacturers producing goods in excess of 100,000 pounds or $5M are required to report the decomposable elements of their products. The manufacturer is responsible for legibly describing those elements based on their knowledge of the design and supply systems. These reports are sent to the BPO who reviews and performs audits to ensure compliance. Approved reports are uploaded to the database.
Product .32 CF
Taxes The information acquired in these two processes is used to tax producers of waste products and associated packaging. Rates are defined by the detrimental level of the material and multiplied by the total weight of that material which is not recycled.
Funding The formation of the BPO is estimated to cost $5,000,000 and take 3 years to begin operation. These start-up costs are funded from the AC Charter, but after start-up the bureau should repay this cost and sustain itself financially via the taxes levied on waste. Most infrastructure is digital, but some agents are available for assistance, monitoring, and enforcement.
Violations Product
Waste
Tax Rate
Tax Owed/Unit
Cardboard:
.08 CF
.05
$0.04
Styrofoam:
.60 CF
5.0
TOTAL:
.68 CF
Erroneous reporting can be remedied within 90 days of notice with a fee of 5% of the tax burden. If fraudulent reporting is discovered, the BPO will send their audit report to local law enforcement agencies and recommend charges be filed.
$3.00 $3.04
Transparency Data collected on the producers of waste is made publicly available with the aim of generating more informed consumers.
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Visualizing an individual’s, a neighborhood’s, and a city’s waste aggregated over time 17
Circular Waste Cycle
NYC Waste Stream
Municipal waste make up informs the collection and sorting spaces for this “waste”. 18
A waste collection vehicle is operated with a human counterpart and sized according to waste flow.
Neighborhood waste centers are a data point where collective sorting efforts can be tracked and rewarded.
The sorting facility harvests and reproduces all types of municipal waste, creating local circular economies. 19
Chess Pavilion Marcus Garvey Park, Manhattan
20
The pavilion is based on the analysis of human behavior and action in public space. The site is in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem where concrete chess tables become a space of gathering and gaming among a group of old men. There are frequent by-passers who often move around the space to avoid the constestation which occurs between the tables. The process of analysis, rendering of pavilion situated in site a site photo, site plan, and site section are shown below.
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The pavilion mimics the movements of a game of chess, and carves space from which by-passers may enter and perhaps be drawn into the games occurring at the surrounding tables. These alternative routes create a space in which the regular observers can also ďŹ nd shade or cover.
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Final plan and model built by laminating and milling basswood planks 23
Ctrl + Alt + Topia Cyber Security Center
24
The project is a cyber security center near the peering points in Tribeca where submarine cables connect the northeastern United States to the internet from Europe and the world. This investigation of typology began with a precedent study and cyber threat analysis model. The proposal is a super-computer containing core which is encapsulated in a double-skin facade which serves as a trellis for human inhabitation. The cells attach and beneďŹ t from the air circulation generated from the computer’s heat exhaustion, while also funneling wind across the server racks, creating a symbiotic relationship between man and machine.
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Precedents for the cyber security center were collaged and include Cedric Price’s Fun Palace, Herzog & de Meuron’s Signal Box, Paul Andreu’s CDG Terminal 1, Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Imaginary Prisons, and Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon. Yakov Chernikhov inspired the diagram bottom left. Final model with pods capable of removal and rearrangement immediate left. 26
Unrolled program diagram and detail showing double skin facade which ventilates human spaces. 27
28
Plan illustrating how pods funnel wind across computer servers and rendered street view. 29
TEAM J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures
Alyssa Lewis Florence Methot Jacqueline Love
Summer 2020 Prof. Shawn Rickenbacker
WORK Architecture of Migration
Hines/U.L.I. Student Competition
Autonomous City
Tanha Tabassum
Liza Otto
Alden Copley
Sayem Shah
Nicolas Losi
Swara Desai
Bridget McGuire
Spring 2020 Prof. Ali C. Hรถcek
January 2020 Prof. Waldo Ojeda
Fall 2020 Prof. Shawn Rickenbacker
J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures
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The project involves the transformation of an existing correctional facility into a community center, creating a path from incarceration to liberation. After examining the history of the building and civil rights movement, five pillars were identified which became landmarks located within the existing building’s shell.
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Uplift/Archive
Educate/Library
Empower/Gallery and Event 34
Collaborate/Amphitheater
Reform/Congress Hall
Gallery/Event Space Plan 35
Architecture of Migration
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The project inspects architecture’s limits, seeking to apply the analytical skills and spatial knowledge of the discipline with the challenges of transience, mobility, and of course, politics. The studio took a trip to Tapachula, Mexico. After conducting interviews with migrants, our project took on the character of a graphic novel.
Cover of graphic novel, describing story of migrants and the ability for information about time, distance, and cost to provide aid in the form of an information network 37
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Maps of journeys with various origins on their way through Mexico’s southern border became the basis of a story.
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Hines/U.L.I. Student Competition
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The Urban Land Institute invites students to compete in a two week, multi-disciplinary competition which forms teams with design, business, and urban planning backgrounds. The site in Miami was announced on the first day of the competition, and a swarming effort of research and representation ensued. The final deliverable was a 36” x 72” board and accompanying proforma.
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42 4 2
Autonomous City A neighborhood that creates opportunities from crisis by harvesting waste, farming produce, and increasing the productive use of every urban surface.
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View of neighborhood maximizing productive use of surfaces and diagram explaining folding strategy.
water
ecological deďŹ cit
land
20-side icosahedron mapping earth by attening and unfolding.
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Two-thirds of earth’s surface is water, and the global ecological footprint is twice the size of our land area.
By folding triangles, surface area is multiplied and land area is minimized.
Cat 1 30 - 40W / ft2 surface use 500 - 600 calories / year / ft2 surface use
Structures can be designed to maximize their surface areas. The more area available on a building, the higher its capacity to meet energy generation, food production, rainwater filtering, and other performance standards set by the city authorities.
Cat 2 20 - 30W / ft2 surface use 300 - 500 calories / year / ft2 surface use
Cat 3 10 - 20W / ft2 surface use 200 - 300 calories / year / ft2 surface use
Spreads from team’s City Manual used to describe goals and back up urban proposal.
CRISIS Structural Inequality
Ecological Deficit
Manufactured
Manufactured Scarcity
GOAL Eliminate carbon based fuel sources
Improve health by integrating nature
End linear waste streams
Create equity for stakeholders in local and circular economies
Maximize role of community members in shaping their neighborhood
Grow available resources and opportunity in parallel with population growth
100% of electricity generated by renewable sources
9 sq meters of open Space/person
Divert 100% of waste from land-fills, dumping and incineration within 10 years
Create $50K of equity/ person in local businesses/ infrastructure within 50 years
Ensure that there are no more than 1000 adult residents/polling station
Reduce the footprint of the residents of our district by 25%
50% of electricity generated within footprint of city
2 trees per person
Reduce waste generation to .25 lbs/person/day
50% of receipts captured by independent businesses
Increase adoption of metric strategies with majority support to 60%
Increase productive uses of district surface areas by 75% in 10 years
METRICS
Global energy consumption per year
Grow available resources and opportunity in parallel with population growth
Available solar energy per year
Reduce the footprint of the residents of our district by 25%
OPPORTUNITY Restoration
The fabrication of scarcity facilitates the dissonant pairings of homelessness and vacant buildings, food insecurity and food waste, reliance on finite fuel sources and solar superabundance. These paradoxes are not natural laws. Our excessive demand for resources, which is at the root of the crisis of Ecological Deficit is exacerbated by inadequate and corrupt systems of distribution. We propose new means of distribution which will ease our per capita demand for resources and facilitate their just distribution.
Justice
Surplus
23,000 TW Increase productive uses of district surface areas by 75% in 10 years
Total area of solar panels required to generate all of New York City’s residential electricity
Median household equity of White families
Ecological Deficit
Structural Inequality Disparities in access to economic opportunity, clean air and water, and political representation fracture our cities along demographic fault lines. The pursuit of justice is embedded in our approach to policy and strategy.
Provide financial ownership to all stakeholders in local and circular economies
Maximize role of community members in shaping their neighborhood
Create $50K of equity/person in local companies/initiatives
Ensure that there are no more than 1000 adult residents/polling station
50% of receipts captured by independent businesses
The extractive premise of capital driven urban development has generated a massive gulf between our appetite for cheap resources and the environment’s ability to absorb the impact of these practices. We established an array of strategies intended to fundamentally reshape our district’s relationship to the collection and use of resources.
$260,000
Eliminate carbon based fuel sources
Improve health by integrating nature
End linear waste streams
Total area of New York City
8,400,000,000 ft2
Median household equity of Black families
100% of electricity generated by renewable sources
9 sq meters of openspace/person
Divert 100% of waste from land-fills and incineration
$110,000.00
Increase adoption of
50% of electricity generated within footprint of neighborhood
2 trees / person
Reduce waste generation to .25 lbs/ person/day
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Frames from day in the life video and set used for production
The End 47
WORK
WORK Egress Lighting and Turtle Requirements
Window Testing at JW Marriott
Plans for Townhouse Renovation
Austin/Gilbane
Austin/Gilbane
Berman Horn Studio
Marco Island, FL
Marco Island, FL
New York, NY
2017
2018
Summer 2020
Egress Lighting and Turtle Requirements It was discovered ahead of TCO that the handrails which are required for egress by the ďŹ re marshal were too bright for Environmental Protection regulations regarding hatching sea-turtles and their need for moon-light to guide them to the water. We created a baffle which was installed under the rails to throw light in the egress pathway, and block light which was previously visible from the beach. Thanks to the work around, we passed TCO and were able to open as planned.
50
Testing hand-rails for ability to post-install light baffle without catching ďŹ ngers or voiding manufacturers warranties while meeting both ďŹ re-marshal and environmental agency requirements. 51
Window Testing and Hurricane Irma The hurricane hit in the middle of construction. Because the window units were not fully installed, an insurance claim began while construction continued, and windows were ďŹ eldtested to ensure a warrantable installation after the natural disaster.
A chamber built around window unit or window wall unit creates negative pressure to simulate hurricane wind forces. Nozzles used to spottest a failed unit and locate the weakness in the system. To pass the test, no water may pass the dry-line of the system after 15 minutes with interior suction and exterior showering. 52
Damage to neighboring construction project after hurricane and testing rack used to apply water while vacuums pull pressure from inside.
Dolphin which was found in tide pool in front of project morning after hurricane. We were able to rescue the dolphin by removing the sand to submerge it until it could be carried to the water in a blanket with the help of additional people.
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Plans for Townhouse Renovation Over the course of the summer, plans were created from site photographs, real estate advertisements, and ďŹ eld measurements. The plans were ready for the New York City Department of Buildings permit application by the end of the summer.
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NOT
WORK Painting
Illustrating
Fly-Tying
Painting
58
Before returning to architecture school, I started painting images of the natural surroundings I experienced in Southwest Florida. These paintings were done with acrylic on MDF.
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Illustrative Explorations Sometimes it’s fun to just make things that you want to see or to see things you didn’t mean to make.
Designs created when learning adobe tools. The graphic to the right is an “exquisite corpse” created at the request of their professor by merging five student groups’ work into one for a publication of their work. 60
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Fly-Tying
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The process of watching the water, observing the flies and bait fish, and crafting a lure that matches the natural surrounding is a hobby that gives me peace and excitement.
Sketches and hand-tied flies designed after South Florida habitat. When you don’t have a boat, a styrofoam cooler can get your gear on the water. 63
Matthew Morgan mmorgan1221@gmail.com (972) 804-8696
An eager learner and team-player experienced in delivering results and creative vision
Experience Berman Horn Studio - Architectural Intern Produced permit set of plans for townhouse renovation
Summer 2020
AMPOPS Design - Architectural Intern Construction details and real estate market research
Summer 2020
Spitzer School of Architecture - Student Assistant Instruction and assistance for ďŹ rst year design studios
Fall 2019-Spring 2020
Austin/Gilbane Building Company - Project Administrator Management of exterior scope on JW Marriott hotel
2015-2018
Manhattan/Byrne Joint Venture - Project Coordinator Subcontract management at DFW Airport renovations
2013-2015
Byrne Construction Services - Field Engineering Intern Summer 2012 Conducted layout and as-built for construction of toll plaza Skills: Revit, Excel, AutoCAD, Bluebeam, Scheduling, Project Management
Education City College of New York, Spitzer School of Architecture Masters of Architecture
Fall 2018-Current
University of Arkansas, Sam M. Walton College of Business Bachelors of Science in Business Administration Finance with Real Estate concentration, Economics minor
2009-2013
Skills: Rhino, Vray, Grasshopper, Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Tableau
Leadership J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures
Summer 2020-Current
Urban Land Institute/Hines Student Competition
Winter 2020
USA for H+UNHCR Hack a Better World
Fall 2019
Cornerstone Leadership Program
2016-2018
A/C/E Mentors
2013-2015
Skills: Listening, Presenting, Developing Trust
Thank You From: Matthew Morgan